The announcement of another North Atlantic Right Whale death has scientists wondering how much more of a hit the population will have to bear before serious action is taken.
The discovery of the carcus south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts brings the number of confirmed deaths this year to 16.
One of the hundreds of scientists who gathered in Halifax over the weekend for the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium's Annual Meeting was Heather Pettis -- she is its executive director.
Pettis says the mammal's population is so small it can't afford a single loss of life, let alone 16.
Pettis says immediate action needs to be taken.
"It's been a really tough year, and as we continue to look and think about the implications for the then 15 animals that had died - that was a crisis in and of itself," Pettis said. "To now see that there's another one is a devastating addition to an unfortunately long list of dead animals."
She says there are many options on the table about how to prevent the trend of deaths from continuing but adds those ideas need to be tested and implimented desperately soon.
